Julien Absalon (BMC) came back from a disappointing Olympics to win his 33rd World Cup and take the seventh World Cup overall title of his career on Sunday, at the World Cup final in Andorra.
Riders faced vastly different conditions than the ones they had trained on, when heavy rain overnight made the rocks and roots very slippery. The altitude, at over 1800 metres, also proved to be a significant factor, with many riders hitting the wall after a fast start.
Carlos Coloma (MMR Factory) led out of the start loop, but was soon supplanted by Ondrej Cink (Multivan Merida), closely followed by Absalon and Olympic champion Nino Schurter (Scott Odlo). Absalon and Schurter made their way up to Cink by the fourth lap, but Schurter suffered a slow leak and was dropped when Absalon attacked. By the end of the fifth lap Absalon had 17 seconds on Cink, and increased that to 43 seconds by the finish line. Pablo Rodriguez (MMR Factory) took third in a sprint with Maxime Marotte (BH-SR Suntour-KMC).
"After the Olympics I was really disappointed," said Absalon, "so the first goal was to win the overall and then the race today. My legs were perfect, and I was really motivated to do a good race, so the plan was to stay with Nino at the beginning of the race and after to attack him at the end. The fast pace at the start was a surprise, because here you don't want to go over the limit, because it is really high [altitude], but I was always in a good rhythm."
Absalon finishes the season with 1310 points and three World Cup victories. Schurter, despite missing one round, finishes second with three victories also, and 980 points. Marotte is third with 948 points.
Full Results
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Julien Absalon (Fra) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team | 1:26:08 |
| 2 | Ondrej Cink (Cze) Multivan Merida Biking Team | 0:00:43 |
| 3 | Pablo Rodriguez Guede (Spa) MMR Factory Racing Team | 0:00:55 |
| 4 | Maxime Marotte (Fra) BH-SR Suntour-KMC | |
| 5 | Stephane Tempier (Fra) Bianchi Countervail | 0:01:04 |
| 6 | Martin Fanger (Swi) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team | 0:01:16 |
| 7 | Manuel Fumic (Ger) Cannondale Factory Racing XC | 0:01:30 |
| 8 | Marco Aurelio Fontana (Ita) Cannondale Factory Racing XC | 0:01:48 |
| 9 | Thomas Litscher (Swi) Multivan Merida Biking Team | 0:02:02 |
| 10 | Jordan Sarrou (Fra) BH-SR Suntour-KMC | 0:02:18 |
| 11 | Lukas Fluckiger (Swi) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team | 0:02:26 |
| 12 | Jose Antonio Hermida Ramos (Spa) Multivan Merida Biking Team | 0:02:35 |
| 13 | Nino Schurter (Swi) Scott-Odlo MTB Racing Team | |
| 14 | Mathias Fluckiger (Swi) Stöckli Pro Team | 0:02:45 |
| 15 | Florian Vogel (Swi) Focus XC Team | 0:02:52 |
| 16 | Fabian Giger (Swi) Kross Racing Team | 0:02:54 |
| 17 | Anton Sintsov (Rus) JBG - 2 Professional MTB Team | 0:02:56 |
| 18 | David Valero Serrano (Spa) MMR Factory Racing Team | 0:02:57 |
| 19 | Reto Indergand (Swi) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team | 0:03:11 |
| 20 | Daniel McConnell (Aus) Trek Factory Racing XC | 0:03:28 |
| 21 | Matthias Stirnemann (Swi) Moebel Maerki MTB Pro Team | 0:03:33 |
| 22 | Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Spa) MMR Factory Racing Team | 0:03:35 |
| 23 | Hugo Drechou (Fra) Calvisson VTT | 0:04:09 |
| 24 | Victor Koretzky (Fra) BH-SR Suntour-KMC | 0:04:20 |
| 25 | Jan Skarnitzl (Cze) SRAM Mitas Trek | 0:04:36 |
| 26 | Luca Braidot (Ita) | 0:04:54 |
| 27 | Ruben Scheire (Bel) Habitat Mountainbike Team | 0:05:05 |
| 28 | Andrea Tiberi (Ita) FRM Factory Racing Team | |
| 29 | Gerhard Kerschbaumer (Ita) Bianchi Countervail | 0:05:12 |
| 30 | Jens Schuermans (Bel) Versluys Team | 0:05:29 |
| 31 | Didier Bats (Bel) | 0:05:38 |
| 32 | Miguel Martinez (Fra) | 0:05:50 |
| 33 | Karl Markt (Aut) Haibike Oetztal Pro Team | 0:05:55 |
| 34 | Kohei Yamamoto (Jpn) Trek Factory Racing XC | 0:05:59 |
| 35 | Markus Schulte-Luenzum (Ger) Focus XC Team | 0:06:28 |
| 36 | Andras Parti (Hun) Waberer's Evopro MTB Team | 0:06:39 |
| 37 | Daniele Braidot (Ita) | 0:06:57 |
| 38 | Michiel Van Der Heijden (Ned) Scott-Odlo MTB Racing Team | 0:07:03 |
| 39 | Sergio Mantecon Gutierrez (Spa) Trek Factory Racing XC | 0:07:18 |
| 40 | Bartlomiej Wawak (Pol) Kross Racing Team | 0:07:28 |
| 41 | Gregor Raggl (Aut) Haibike Oetztal Pro Team | 0:07:43 |
| 42 | Christian Pfaffle (Ger) | 0:07:47 |
| 43 | Shlomi Haimy (Isr) Novus OMX Pro Team | 0:07:54 |
| 44 | Florian Chenaux (Swi) | 0:08:01 |
| 45 | Martin Gluth (Ger) Novus OMX Pro Team | 0:08:17 |
| 46 | Catriel Andres Soto (Arg) MMR Factory Racing Team | 0:08:37 |
| 47 | Mario Luis Miranda Costa (Por) | 0:08:49 |
| 48 | Bart De Vocht (Bel) Versluys Team | 0:08:55 |
| 49 | Nicola Rohrbach (Swi) | 0:08:57 |
| 50 | Sebastien Carabin (Bel) Merida Wallonie MTB Team | 0:09:01 |
| 51 | Mirko Tabacchi (Ita) | 0:10:37 |
| 52 | Emilien Barben (Swi) | 0:10:54 |
| 53 | Michael Stunzi (Swi) | - 1 lap |
| 54 | Fabian Paumann (Swi) Wheeler Pro Team | |
| 55 | Martin Gujan (Swi) Wheeler Pro Team | |
| 56 | Daniel Eymann (Swi) Fischer-BMC | |
| 57 | Andrew L'Esperance (Can) | |
| 58 | Pierre-Geoffroy Plantet (Fra) Btwin MTB Racing Team | |
| 59 | Edoardo Bonetto (Ita) Sixs Devinci Pro Team | |
| 60 | Ivan Diaz (Spa) | |
| 61 | Ramon Sagues Portabella (Spa) | |
| 62 | Emil Lindgren (Swe) Serneke Allebike MTB Team | |
| 63 | Mario Sinues Mico (Spa) | - 2 laps |
| 64 | Benoit Igoulen (Fra) Look - Beaumes De Venise | |
| 65 | Zdenek Vobecky (Cze) | |
| 66 | Simon Gegenheimer (Ger) Rose Vaujany Fueled By Ultrasports | |
| 67 | Adelino Moll Mut (Spa) | |
| 68 | Saul Lopez (Spa) | |
| 69 | Roberto Bou Martin (Spa) | |
| 70 | Adria Noguera Soldevila (Spa) | |
| 71 | Fco. Javier Poza Ruiz (Spa) | |
| 72 | Cristofer Bosque Ruano (Spa) | |
| 73 | Sakari Lehtinen (Fin) | |
| 74 | Oriol Domenech (Spa) | |
| 75 | Guy Diaz Grollier (And) | - 3 laps |
| 76 | Cristian Garcia (Spa) | |
| 77 | Emelien Joseph De Poortere (Fra) | |
| 78 | Grant Ferguson (GBr) CST Superior Brentjens Mountainbike Racing Team | |
| 79 | Jon Erguin (Spa) | |
| 80 | Victor Selles (Spa) | |
| 81 | Albert Masana (Spa) | |
| 82 | Oscar Ferrer (Spa) | - 4 laps |
| DNF | Tom Bell (GBr) | |
| DNF | Martin Loo (Est) | |
| DNF | Marc Stutzmann (Swi) | |
| DNS | David Joao Serralheiro Rosa (Por) | |
| DNS | Rudi Van Houts (Ned) CST Superior Brentjens Mountainbike Racing Team |
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